Angel
for other uses, see Angel (disambiguation) Angel, born Liam in 1727 in Galway, Ireland, is a legendary vampire notable for being the first vampire with a soul. Before being cursed with his soul he was known as Angelus and was infamous as the most vicious and sadistic vampire ever recorded. Biography Human life Angel was born as Liam, to an Irish merchant, in 1727. By 1753, at the age of 26, he had developed a taste for alcohol, women and sloth. Though not a bad man, Liam was a hedonist whose only real ambition lay in seeing the world. For the lazy Irishman, that seemed a laughable dream, especially after he was expelled from his father's household, but he had caught the eye of an affluent woman — actually a vampire — named Darla. She lured him into an alley, and, promising him a world full of excitement and travel, transformed him into a vampire. The loss of his soul meant Liam no longer possessed any restraint over his darker impulses, in fact the demon spirit which replaced his soul indulged them. On the night he rose from his grave, and in response to Darla's claim that he could have anyone in the village, he set about slaughtering the entire community. When he came to slaughter his own family, he found no problem in entering, his little sister inviting him in without hesitation or suspicion. Before killing his father, he would tell him mockingly, "She thought that I'd returned to her. An angel. She was wrong." For generations Darla and Liam, now known as Angelus, terrorized humankind, murdering and torturing anyone who crossed their path. Angelus sired the vampires Penn (who indulged his blood lust by becoming a serial killer), and Drusilla, a young woman driven insane by Angelus before he finally sired her. Drusilla, in turn, sired Spike, for whom Angelus largely served as a mentor and "role model." Spike would go so far as to call the elder vampire his "Yoda." According to Angel in the episode "City of," he had been around for 14 wars, not counting Vietnam because "They never declared it." Cursed In 1898, Angelus slew the favorite daughter of a tribe of Gypsies, the Kalderash Clan. To avenge her death, the Kalderash cursed him by restoring his human soul, thus afflicting him with a conscience and condemning him to an eternity of remorse for the crimes he'd committed as the soulless Angelus. During the Boxer Rebellion, the vampire - now known as "Angel" - tried and failed to resume his life with Darla, finding himself unable to eat a baby to prove himself to his sire. Angel fled (presumably to the United States) and lived in self-imposed isolation, controlling the temptation to feed by avoiding humans altogether. Angel arrived in New York via Ellis Island in 1902. Aside from one mention of the unspecified interval he spent in Missoula during the Depression, Angel didn't surface for the next four decades. During World War II, Angel was coerced to undertake a secret mission by the The Demon Research Initiative, who sank him to the bottom of the ocean to rescue an American submarine crew from three Nazi-captured vampires (including Spike). After the American crew captured the German submarine, the vampires had escaped their bonds, and murdered most of the crew; a remnant survived behind a locked hatch. After the submarine suffered damage from a depth charge Angel was forced to sire a mortally wounded Ensign Sam Lawson, as he was the only person who was able to repair the damage. In 1952, Los Angeles, Angel was a resident at the Hyperion Hotel, the building which would one day become the future base of Angel Investigations. During this time, Angel attempted to stay to himself, avoiding interaction with other residents and patrons. Despite the numerous strange incidents, murders and suicides running rampant throughout the hotel, he looked the other way when his help would have made a difference. After finding a young woman named Judy hiding in his room, Angel tried to preserve his isolation, first by disarming and removing the man chasing her, then by immediately ejecting Judy herself. However, her repeated attempts to interact with him allowed the two to build a lukewarm -- very surprising and rare for Angel -- relationship. Meanwhile, hotel staff and residents (including Judy) continued to become corrupted and, although he didn't understand why, Angel felt compelled to help. He discovered the presence of the Thesulac, a paranoia demon affecting the humans in the hotel, but by the time Angel learned how to defeat it and obtained the items required, the entire hotel was overcome with pathological paranoia. Mad with demon-induced fear, the hotel residents and staff turned on Judy as their exemplar of The Outsider. To save herself, Angel's new friend betrayed him to the mob. With rabid fury, they ambushed Angel, beat him, and then hanged him. Crushed and embittered by the consequences of becoming close to a human, Angel abandoned Judy and everyone else. Instead of destroying the Thesulac as it was in his power to do, he allowed the vicious demon to prey upon and ravage them unhindered. Upon Angel's return to the Hyperion many decades later, he found Judy there, an old woman, still trapped, still consumed with guilt for causing her new friend and protector to be lynched in her stead. Telling Judy he'd forgiven her, Angel allowed them both to find some sort of peace. However, at the time of his bitter departure from the Hyperion, he disappeared again and little is known of his activities for the next twenty years. In New York during the 1970s, Angel witnessed a robbery at a doughnut shop. After the robber shot the employee and fled, Angel stayed with the man as he died. Unable to resist the sight and smell of the clerk's still-warm blood, Angel helplessly succumbed to the overwhelming urge and fed on the body. Deeply disgusted by his own weakness, Angel fled the shop, and then exiled himself to a life of homelessness, living in alleyways and feeding on rats. Two decades later, a shadow of his former self, the reclusive and emotionally tortured Angel was sought out in 1996 by a demon named Whistler, who persuaded him to join the fight against the evil that had corrupted him and to help the newly-called Slayer, Buffy Summers. The following year, when he and Buffy finally met in Sunnydale, he introduced himself, not as Angelus, but as Angel. Sunnydale Angel fell in love with Buffy the first time he saw her on that fateful day in L.A. when she first was called. However, Angel didn't show himself until after her move to Sunnydale, and after her first day at Sunnydale High. Buffy did not realize Angel was a vampire until several weeks later, but by then the damage was done - she had fallen in love with him in turn. Though they tried to deny their feelings, they could not resist the passion growing between them. When they finally consummated their relationship, Angel experienced one moment of pure happiness, which broke the Gypsy curse and lost him his soul. Without the compassion and conscience instilled by his human soul, Angel instantly reverted to his former evil self, Angelus. Losing his soul Angel, now Angelus, allied himself once again with Spike and Drusilla, who had recently settled in Sunnydale. Resenting the humiliation he felt because Buffy had made Angel feel like a human being, Angelus took immense pleasure in tormenting the Slayer and her friends. First, he helped Spike and Dru deploy a powerful demon known as the Judge. After Buffy destroyed the Judge, Angelus embarked on a guerrilla campaign, lurking in the shadows, preying on Buffy's classmates, sending her gruesome messages, even drawing pictures of her as she slept and leaving them in her bedroom. Angelus's reign of terror culminated in his murder of Jenny Calendar, which served him in two ways. First, he eliminated an enemy (Jenny was born Janna of the Kalderash clan) and destroyed her work just as she managed to successfully decipher the lost Gypsy curse which could be used to restore Angel's soul. Second, Angelus used Jenny's death to viciously torment Giles, Jenny's paramour and the person on whom Buffy depended most. After Angelus orchestrated this masterpiece of terror, Drusilla drew his attention to a new opportunity for destruction and chaos. Angelus widened his focus and began a scheme to awaken the demon Acathla and bring about the end of the world. Buffy was determined to stop him despite their history. Fighting him one-on-one, the Slayer was able to overcome Angelus, but just as Acathla opened the vortex into his hell dimension, Buffy's friend and comrade, Willow Rosenberg, used the ritual Jenny had rediscovered and preserved to restore Angel's soul. Since Acathla could only be stopped by the blood of the individual who activated him, Buffy was forced to sacrifice her beloved Angel rather than the demon Angelus to save the world. Impaled on the Slayer's enchanted sword, Angel appeared to shrink into the distance until Acathla's vortex suddenly snapped closed. Resurrection Less than a year later (by Sunnydale reckoning), Angel was unexpectedly released from Acathla's hell, reappearing in his mansion in a feral state. Buffy aided him in secret, fostering his rehabilitation. Once he regained his senses, Angel began to suspect that his return from Hell was not accidental, that he must be meant to serve some unknown purpose. That fear -- that this purpose was not for the cause of good -- grew in Angel's mind as he began to experience what he believed to be hallucinations. However, he was actually being haunted by the First Evil. The First, able to adopt the appearances of Angelus' victims, drove Angel ever closer to the brink of madness by lashing him with guilt and, ultimately, tempting him to end it all by losing his soul once again and killing Buffy in the throes of passion. In despair, Angel chose to kill himself rather than risk his beloved Slayer. To Angel's shock and consternation, it snowed that Christmas morning as he waited under the open sky for the sun to rise. From that moment, he began to entertain the hope that his return might have some purpose for good after all. After that miraculous snowy day in southern California, Angel and Buffy tried to build an actual relationship, taking in the occasional movie, getting away on more scenic patrols, enjoying moonlit picnics in the cemetery. But it was not to be. Even before their one and only night together, Angel had worried about Buffy's future with him, his inability to give her a family, or even a remotely normal human life. Upon hearing his own concerns reflected back to him from such disparate sources as Mayor Wilkins and Joyce Summers, Angel at last made the difficult decision to leave Sunnydale, to leave Buffy. Los Angeles Angel promised Buffy he would stay until Sunnydale High's Graduation Day, to help avert the Mayor's Ascension. He also warned her that, if they survived the ordeal, he would leave without saying goodbye. They survived, and Angel, with a last, long look at the Slayer, kept his final promise. In L.A., Angel spends a few months alone, patrolling dives and dark alleys, battling vampires who hunt there. Soon enough, he receives support in his attempts to redeem himself in the service of others. First, Doyle, a half-demon and fellow Irishman, is sent by The Powers That Be. Almost immediately thereafter, Angel runs into Cordelia Chase, a former classmate of Buffy's who has moved to L.A. to find wealth and fame. The trio form Angel Investigations, a shoestring operation whose mission statement is to "Help the Helpless." Doyle, Angel's trusted friend and sole connection to the Powers, sacrifices himself to save others, leading Angel to become even more protective of those few he holds dear. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce, who had briefly served as Watcher to both Buffy and Faith Lehane in Sunnydale, arrives in L.A. claiming to be a "rogue demon hunter," a lone wolf sort who only works solo. After their first case, however, Wesley is eager to stay and assist Angel and Cordelia in their mission. A few months later, they are joined by lifelong demon fighter, Charles Gunn. The Angel Investigations team also enlists the help of demon karaoke bar-owner Lorne, known initially only as The Host. Both prescient and empathic, Lorne can sense the futures of humans and demons when they sing. During this time, three young Wolfram and Hart associates, Lindsey McDonald, Lee Mercer, and Lilah Morgan, attempt to have Angel killed by the rogue vampire slayer, Faith. Under Angel's influence, the deeply troubled Faith starts along her own path to redemption, ultimately turning herself in to the police as the first step toward making amends for her crimes. Reunion with Darla As Angel continues to help the helpless in Los Angeles, his good deeds begin seriously to disrupt the plans of the evil inter-dimensional law firm, Wolfram and Hart. In an attempt to control him, the firm resurrects his sire and former lover, Darla, who comes back as a human rather than as a vampire. Wolfram and Hart then summons Drusilla, who turns Darla into a vampire again. Angel feels such deep anguish at his failure to save Darla, and such intense fury at Wolfram and Hart for their machinations, that he fires his crew and embarks on a bitter, ruthless vendetta against both the law firm and the newly reunited Darla and Drusilla. In a dark moment, Angel refuses to prevent the slaughter of a very large group of Wolfram & Hart employees at the fangs of their own creations, Dru and Darla. In spiritual agony beyond even his endurance, Angel attempts to shed his soul by having sex with Darla, but instead of happiness, finds despair. A moment of clarity follows the desperate act, and Angel realizes that his purpose is still to do all the good he can, even if he can't do all the good he wants. Having hoped to get her boy Angelus back, Darla is horrified and infuriated by Angel's epiphany, and flees Los Angeles. After a difficult reconciliation that involves Wesley taking over the official position of leader of the group, the Angel Investigations team find themselves transported to Lorne's home dimension, Pylea. Eventually, after Angel defeats the undefeated Champion of Pylea, the Groosalugg, they return with a new team member, Fred Burkle, in tow, and to the news that the love of Angel's life, Buffy, has died. Fatherhood Despite Buffy's miraculous resurrection a few months later, Angel finds that his previously platonic love for Cordelia has grown to be romantic. Before he has a chance to confess his feelings, however, Darla returns, pregnant with his son, to be named Connor. False prophecies, time travelers and betrayal lead to Angel losing his infant son to an old enemy, Holtz, who abducts Connor soon after his birth, taking him to the hell dimension Quor-Toth, where time passes differently. When Connor returns days later, he is a young man who has been raised by Holtz to believe that Angel is still a soulless monster. Holtz takes his own life in such a way that Connor is led to believe he was killed by Angel and vows to make Angel pay for the suffering he had caused Holtz. That same night, Connor sinks his father to the bottom of the ocean in a steel coffin and Cordelia ascends to a higher plane, the feelings shared between her and Angel still left unspoken. Rescued by Wesley from his watery prison, Angel's relationship with Connor is strained. It is complicated further by the return of an amnesiac Cordelia, who prefers to stay with Connor because he told her the truth while the others lied to her (albeit because they thought it was for her own good). When a very powerful demon known only as the Beast arrives and begins an attempt to bring forth an apocalypse, Angel's worst fears are realized when he has to strip himself of his soul and revert to his evil alter ego in order to defeat it. Angelus does indeed overcome the Beast, and is also deft enough to realize that the Beast was a mere "flunkie" serving an even deeper evil; the Beast he knew was only interested in smashing and slaughter, and it was unlikely that the Beast would have become smarter since Angelus fought him. Although he is momentarily free to wreak a little havoc of his own, Angelus is recaptured and re-ensouled with the help of Faith (who almost dies in her quest to capture Angelus) and Willow, culminating in a brief but violent mental battle between Angel and Angelus. After his soul is restored, Angel figures out that the enemy he has been battling is a little closer to home than the group had previously considered, realizing that whatever the Beast's "boss" is, it is using Cordelia's body to carry out its plans. After battling and defeating the divine being known as Jasmine, Angel is offered the L.A. branch of Wolfram & Hart on the grounds that he ended world peace. Angel acts against all of his instincts and makes a deal with his sworn enemy, in exchange for Wolfram & Hart erasing Connor’s memories and giving him a normal life, and trying to find a way to cure Cordelia. Running Wolfram & Hart Angel's year spent running Wolfram & Hart is one marred with challenge and self-doubt. Trying to battle evil from within the belly of the beast proves to be more difficult than even he imagined, with the lines of good and evil becoming ever more gray with every action taken. Shortly after Angel assumes control of the law firm, matters are further complicated when Spike appears as a ghost, emerging from a familiar amulet sent to Angel in the mail. Sharing a complicated history of murder and mayhem, they had spent more than a century as rivals in everything. Now both possessing souls, and both still in love with Buffy, they had evolved into very different heroes in the war against evil. Forced to co-exist, they wage a protracted, insidious battle of wits, ending when they finally come to an understanding and acceptance of their unique brotherhood on their journey to redemption. In the episode "Destiny," when they prepare to do battle over the Cup of Perpetual Torment, Spike tells Angel "You had a soul forced on you. As a curse. Make you suffer for all the horrible things you've done. Me, I fought for my soul, went through the demon trials, almost did me in a dozen times over, but I kept fighting. Because I knew it was the right thing to do. It's my destiny." Then Spike defeats Angel for the first time in their century plus association. Despite this, Spike and Angel come to an understanding that lets the two of them operate as a lethal team when the two end up fighting side-by-side, using their long experience of each other's skills to operate in near-perfect tandem. Angel finally understands that he will never be able to completely stop the forces of evil, but that he can temporarily sever the Senior Partners' hold on Earth. Together with his comrades, Angel prepares to suicidally incur the apocalyptic wrath of the Senior Partners as a way of going out in a blaze of glory. They assassinate the members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, the Senior Partners' instruments on Earth for pulling all the political and economic strings. In this effort, Gunn is badly wounded, and Wesley is killed. Gunn manages to make it to the meeting point, the alley behind the Hyperion Hotel, where he, Angel, Spike and Illyria engage in battle with the dark armies that the Senior Partners have sent against them. The last words spoken on screen are, "Let's go to work." Powers and abilities Angel has the standard powers and vulnerabilities of a Buffyverse vampire. He is a highly skilled combatant and generally fights unarmed, using circular attacks such as spinning kicks and back hands. He has, however, mastered many varieties of weapons, favoring the axe and the broadsword. Angel also possesses some cognitive abilities; he has a photographic memory ("Habeas Corpses") and has displayed a psychic connection to those he has sired on at least one occasion ("Somnambulist"). In "Power Play", he reveals that Cordelia passed on her visions to him earlier that season in "You're Welcome". However, he explains that this was a "one-time deal", suggesting that this ability is not permanent. As Angelus, he displays considerable skill in manipulating others emotional states and has driven his victims insane, as seen with Drusilla. With or without his soul, he is shown to be an expert in torture, having tortured Giles as Angelus ("Becoming, Part Two") and Linwood as Angel (cf. "Forgiving"). As well as his supernatural abilities and fighting skills, Angel displayed a number of other talents. He apparently has "very nice handwriting" and is a gifted artist, first seen in the episode "Passion", using charcoal crayon and China ink to draw portraits. He can drive; owning a black 1967 Plymouth GTX convertible in Angel seasons one to four and a Viper in five. He can speak several languages, including Korean, Italian, Spanish, French, Russian, Romanian, German, and in "Harm's Way" tries to learn the language of the Vinji and Sahrvin demons via an instruction tape. Angel is competent but uncomfortable with using modern technology; he frequently struggles to understand cellphones (once claiming that they must have been invented by a "bored warlock") and confuses computer terminology such as "chatty rooms." He is shown changing diapers, but claims to be more familiar with pins than the "new-fangled fasteners" of disposable brands ("Dad"). He is a convincing improvisational actor, as seen in the episodes "Enemies", "Five by Five", and "The Shroud of Rahmon", but is very not talented at singing (as seen in the episode "Judgement", amongst others). Quotes : Angel: Look, I'm weak. I've never been anything else. It's not the demon in me that needs killing, Buffy. It's the man. (Episode 3.10 (Buffy) "Amends") : Angel: ...there is no guilt, there is no torment, no consequences... It's pure. I remember what that was like. Sometimes I miss that clarity. : Cordelia: But not the trying to kill your friends and family part, right? Just checking! (Episode 1.21 "Blind Date") : Cordelia: What I remember when I was a higher being... I remember seeing you. Your past. When you were Angelus. : Angel: I've never tried to hide who I was. Or what I've done. You already knew. : Cordelia: Knowing's different than living it. When I was up there, I could look back and see everything you did as Angelus. More than see. I felt it. Not just their fear and pain. I felt you. And how much you enjoyed making them suffer... (Episode 4.07 "Apocalypse, Nowish") Angel has made more appearances in canon Buffyverse programs than any other character. He appeared in: Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Angel became a series regular in the show's second and third seasons, although he did not appear in "Inca Mummy Girl". He appeared in 56 episodes in all, including guest appearances in the episodes: *Season 1 (1997) - "Welcome To The Hellmouth"; "The Harvest"; "Teacher's Pet"; "Never Kill a Boy on the First Date"; "Angel"; "Out of Mind, Out of Sight"; "Prophecy Girl". *Season 4 (1999, 2000) - "Pangs"; "The Yoko Factor". *Season 5 (2000, 2001) - "Fool for Love" (flashbacks); "Forever". *Season 7 (2002, 2003) - "End of Days"; "Chosen" Angel — As the star of the series, Angel appeared in all 110 episodes of five seasons. Trivia *Had a sexual relationship with Spike, as stated in Power Play. *Angel was supposed to be a one-time character until David Boreanaz was found. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/buffy/interviews/shulman/page3.shtml *In the Angel season three episode "Carpe Noctem", in which Angel was victim of a bodyswitch, he was played by Rance Howard. *Angel has a tattoo on his shoulder-blade of a griffin from The Book of Kellshttp://maquisleader.com/buffy/tattoo.htm, with the addition of the letter 'A' beneath it. http://www.cityofangel.com/council/faqs/angelTattoo.jpg *The first time it was planned that Angel would lose his soul, Joss Whedon was doubtful of David Boreanaz being capable of portraying the cruelty of Angelus. *Angel is a "Fanilow" (a fan of Barry Manilow), particularly loving the song "Mandy". As he quotes, "I think it's kinda pretty." *Angel has appeared in by far the most episodes in Buffyverse, for a total of 166 episodes. Buffy and Willow are next, with 146 and 147 episodes respectively. He has also appeared in the most seasons of Buffyverse (All seasons of Buffy and Angel except for Buffy season 6) for a total of 11. He is also the only actor to appear in the pilots and finales of both Buffy and Angel. *Angel is a fan of ice hockey (we see him watching the game in "Life of the Party") and he hoped Connor would grow up playing ice hockey, one of the reasons being that it is a sport where most games are played indoors, and at night (allowing for vampires to spectate). Category:Vampires Category:Vampire Masters Category:Angel Investigations and Team Angel Category:Scooby Gang Category:Wolfram & Hart executives and lawyers Category:Servants of the Powers That Be Category:Vampire hunters Category:Demon hunters Category:Circle of the Black Thorn Category:Males Category:Fathers Category:Warriors Category:Possession victims Category:Los Angeles residents Category:Sunnydale residents Category:LGBT individuals